Sleep Paralysis: The Gateway To Out-Of-Body Experiences

Learn about sleep paralysis and how it can be used to go beyond and experience something more profound that you can ever imagine.

A lot of people relate sleep paralysis with a fearful or terrifying experience, but there really isn’t anything scary about the experience at all, except that you might become fearful if you don’t understand what is happening.

Therefore, this article is supposed to address our fear of night visions and turn it into a healthy curiosity.

Although I don’t claim mastery of lucid dreaming, sleep paralysis or soul travel, but as one who has overcome fear and experienced it, I can claim that it is one of my favorite aspects of sleeping and self-exploration.

Out-of-body experiences have been recounted and recorded for thousands of years. Whether you actually believe that our soul separates from the body or if it’s simply a simulation or projection based on the sensation created by the brain, out-of-body experiences are linked to the realm of dreaming states and sleeping.

Whether the experience induces terror, joy, or curiosity, there is one aspect that always remains constant: these exploratory and profound journeys always start in bed and when the experience comes to an end, we wake up safe and sound with a profound feeling that simply cannot be explained in words.

Even though we lack the scientific knowledge to truly understand how these experiences manifest, what we do understand is that out-of-body experiences are much more likely to emerge after a bout of sleep paralysis that will last at least 2 minutes, this is according to sleep paralysis expert David Hufford.

Hence, sleep paralysis is by far the most reliable way to enter or experience an out-of-body experience.

What Happens During Sleep Paralysis?

When a person experiences sleep paralysis, they feel like being crushed, pulled, and sometimes even twisted. These sensations can obviously cause a person to become afraid. And this is due to our general fear of the unknown or uncertainty.

However, the same person undergoing the experience with knowledge of the phenomena might not experience the same fear, at least not on a similar degree.

The feeling of intense downward pressure, all the while being pulled up by another force is commonly explained as our subconscious being pulled out of our bodies, but it is just how it feels during the experience.

I will explain one of my recent experiences of sleep paralysis, which transformed into an out-of-body experience.

I was jetlagged and sleep deprived so I decided to take a nap while lying on my back. Sleep paralysis is much more likely to occur when you sleep on your back and slightly elevated. It worked like a charm and here is my experience:

I start hearing rushing sounds, which seemed to come and go just like ocean waves. I focused on my hearing in the hope that, the rushing increases, which it did, getting longer in duration till the point the rushing sensation became constant.

At this point, I start to hear a distinct tone. I try to move, but I can’t even twitch a single fiber of my muscle. Now, I am certain I am in sleep paralysis.

I feel a strong pressure pushing me down and, as its intensity increases, I feel being submersed into the mattress.

At one point, I start feeling another force that is pulling me along with the pressure that is pushing me down. I feel being dragged off the bed in an unexplainable and unnatural manner. It is an extremely odd sensation, one that can only be experienced and not explained.

Suddenly, I have left a part of me behind, the part that was being pressured down and now I am the part that was pulled out of me or my body. The moment I am out, everything changes, my surroundings, the sensation I am feeling, everything.

It is quiet, it is dark, and it is unimaginably cool. I feel as if I am drifting down a stream. It was the ultimate feeling of relaxation. My breathing is deep and slow, and I am drifting along in a perpetual stream, experiencing a form of serenity that I have never felt in the material world.

After a while, I decide to go back. I concentrate on my toes, which I can’t see but as I start to wriggle them the focus brings me back. A few seconds later, I open my eyes and I am back. There is a feeling of profundity within me, which I wish I could write, but I simply cannot.

If you ever experience sleep paralysis or out-of-body experiences, remember that you have to fight the initial fear. And if it becomes overwhelming, you can use the toe wiggle to wake yourself up.

An Important Note Regarding Out-of-Body Experiences

Out-of-body experiences are extremely weird and a lot of weird things can happen, so you should be expecting them and if it becomes too much, remember that you can always stop and come back.

Even veteran explorers attest that these experiences are extremely different. They feel more real than reality and getting scared is a natural reaction.

Sometimes, our subconscious can hijack our conscious dreams, resulting in something you never wanted to face, something that is a part of you.

Remember, you can always will yourself into waking up just like you can wake up in a lucid dream and sleep paralysis.

Post Tags:

Helen Elizabeth Williams is the owner of DreamcatcherReality.com, where she is a staff writer. Her passions are: spirituality, meditation and polo. She adores all animals, but horses have a special place in her heart. She loves the diversity of our cultures, the beauty of simple people and the harmony of Mother Nature. ♥